A look at Adnkronos International

Adnkronos International (AKI) is an independent news agency that is focused on information exchange, research and dialogue between Italy, Europe and the emerging areas of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

Today I looked over the headlines to discover exactly what this statement means...

The first feature I noticed was the fact that the site is available is three languages- Italian, English and Arabic. This shows a focus on a European target auidence more so than Asian or Spanish speaking countries.

The previously noted fact is related to the second thing I noticed upon opening the web page- the headlines!
-Mideast: Donors pledge new aid for Gaza recovery
-Mideast: Italian premier pledges $100 mln for Gaza reconstruction
-US: Italian bank may face charges over illegal Iranian payments
-Indonesia: Men may be jailed for multiple marriages
-Iraq: Saddam's cousin sentenced to death for third time
I couldn't find the photographer's name for this photo of
Ali Hassan al-Majid but here is the link back to where I found this picture included with the article from AKI...http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3063449209

The headlines I just listed were in that same order down the home web page of the English version of Adnkronos International. I think that the languages included in addition to the Italian option says a lot about this news service. There is English, which statistically makes sense because English is the most commonly read language on the world wide web, and then the third option is Arabic. I have been hearing now for about the past four years of my education that learning Arabic would be extremely valuable to my career in media.

As a journalism student, I am in fact studying a second language, Spanish. Currently, Spanish-speakers are nearing the same number of English speakers in America and therefore it the most valuable second language for me.

It is interesting that this particular Italian media outlet offers Arabic over any other Asian, European or Latin American languages. This fact must be based on what news they cover, what issues, and who they believe will be consuming their reports.

Then, the first two headlines began "Mideast:..." So I believe that there is probably a high number of Italian reporters in the Middle Eastern countries, reporting on the issues that maybe not all media outlets cover.

Also, I really liked browsing this web site for my news. In addition to the initial scroll down of headlines, the page is divided into a number of sub menus that covered more international and cultural topics than most sites I am used to. There is very sophisticated media available as well, including audio, videos and pictures. All of these elements reflects a certain credibility that I look for when I put my trust in a website to provide me without unbias, important, timely information.

I will probably write more about AKI in the future.

Here is a list of the Italian news outlets that I will be focusing on for this project. I picked out a few that cover a variety of issues from different perspectives. I plan to use these media outlets as my main source for analysis and comparison about current events in Italy and around the world.

-Andkronos International (AKI) is an independent news agency that is focused on information exchange, research and dialogue between Italy, Europe and the emerging areas of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/hp/

-Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) is a national news agency that is made up of 36 members who are editors of major Italian newspapers who share the common goal to publish and distribute the news.
http://www.ansa.it/site/index.html

-LaSpecula.com is a multilingual online newspaper that provides news from all over the world. The website is divided up by region, covering events in Africa, America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
http://www.laspecula.com/

-Football Italia is an offifial website for English-speaking fans of Italian football. It includes coverage of the players and the games as well as statistics and programming information.
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/index.html

-Only in Italy.com is a compilement of news stories from Italian publications that are funny and/or ironic. The makers of this website do not exploit outrageous stories from tabloids or sensational broadcasts. They cite that they only translate stories from mainstream daily newspapers.
http://www.onlyinitaly.com/index.html

-ZENIT News Agnecy is an outlet that attemps to view current events through the messages of the pope and the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. Their purpose is to inform the public about the topics, debates and events that are especially interesting to Christians worldwide.
http://www.zenit.org/index.php?l=english

As you can see, some of the sites I picked are just for fun. I have an interest in soccer and it will be fun for me to follow an Italian football news outlet. Also, I like seeing some humor in everything I do, and I think that reading some ridicuous real published articles will be fun.

The other news services I listed are for comparison purposes. I will utilize them to see how different view points determine what story is the lead, or what adjectives are used or if there is any obvious bias among the outlets. It will be interesting to see which outlets decide what events to include and focus on or to leave out of their publication entirely.